Editions

Garcia lauds Roma's resilience

Rudi Garcia was pleased with how his players responded as Roma fought back to earn a 1-1 draw with Empoli.

Share

Getty Images

Written BySacha Pisani

height="148">

Roma played out a fourth consecutive draw in Serie A on Saturday
but Rudi Garcia was still in a good mood having seen his team rally
from a goal down and a first-half red card.

Brazilian full-back Maicon earned a point for second-placed Roma
at the Stadio Olimpico, with his strike 12 minutes into the second
half cancelling out Massimo Maccarone's 39th-minute penalty.

Roma were reduced to 10 men in the 37th minute when Kostas
Manolas saw red for a professional foul on Riccardo Saponara and
Maccarone converted the spot-kick.

Empoli also went into the break with a man less after Saponara
was shown a second yellow card in first-half stoppage time.

The home side levelled proceedings in the 57th minute, with
Maicon finding the bottom corner of the net as Roma ended the match
six points adrift of leaders Juventus.

"When we are in a difficult moment with so many problems, we can
only praise the reaction of the team," Garcia told Sky Sport
Italia.

"Not only were we a goal down and a man down, but in the second
half we stepped up the tempo and did everything to win.

"[Davide] Astori hit the crossbar, [Juan] Iturbe went off, so
let's just say at the moment luck is not on our side."

Garcia added: "The reaction in the second half was that of a
great team. We proved that we know the right path in terms of
tactics, quality and physicality. We do know that we should push
more from the start.

"I think our fans are happy with the second half. They want to
see the whole game like that and above all to win. We are working
on it.

"We know things will go better when I have more choices at my
disposal."